Author: Kanayan Tamar

US RICE SUPPORTS TURKEY’S REGIONAL INITIATIVES

Sept 11 2008
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan held a telephone conversation
with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday.

Burak Ozugergin, spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
told the A.A on Thursday that recent developments in the Caucasus
were high on agenda and Babacan informed Rice on his visit to Armenia.

"Babacan reiterated that Turkey extended support to the Minsk process
aiming at finding a solution to the Upper Karabakh dispute between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. He said that such a solution would have a
positive impact on Turkey-Armenia relations. Meanwhile, Rice said that
they would support Turkey’s regional initiatives," Ozugergin added.

WILL GUL’S VISIT TO YEREVAN HAVE A LONG-TERM IMPACT?
By Ilter Turkmen

Turkish Press
Sept 9 2008

HURRIYET- Anything which ends well is good. President Abdullah Gul’s
visit to Yerevan last week also went well. Nothing unpleasant
or excessive happened, and the protests against him weren’t
widespread. The Armenians who watched the World Cup qualifying
match between Turkey and Armenia were very dignified and mature as
well. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian will probably accept Gul’s
invitation to attend the return match a year from now. But presidential
visits to watch soccer matches aren’t enough.

I wrote on Saturday that if Gul’s visit didn’t produce concrete
results, it wouldn’t be surprising if this provoked domestic political
debate. In addition, as Radikal daily’s Cengiz Candar wrote, unless
the rapprochement represented by the visit is followed by opening
diplomatic relations and borders between the two countries, this
will result in deep frustration. Candar added that resolving this
frustration would be harder than addressing the current problems.

Apparently Gul’s visit wasn’t just symbolic or pro forma. Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told reporters in Yerevan that
after Gul left, he had met with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan
and that they reached a consensus to work on opening the borders and
diplomatic relations between the two countries. This development
signals very genuine change in Turkey’s stance, because up to now
these two steps have been contingent on solving the Karabakh conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Will these two processes be conducted together, or will
Turkish-Armenian relations be discussed in a completely different
framework? We don’t know exactly, but the Karabakh issue can’t be
solved so quickly. Linking these two processes would drag out the
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. Some argue against
opening the border and establishing diplomatic relations, saying,
for instance, that Armenia hasn’t forsaken its territorial claims on
Turkey, and that Armenia’s declaration of independence and Constitution
refer to southern Anatolia as ‘Western Armenia.’

If they really include this concrete territorial claim, one might ask
why we were one of the first states to recognize Armenia. Another
argument cites Armenia’s reluctance to ratify the 1921 Treaty of
Kars. But here, it would be inexplicable why we didn’t insist on
recognition of the border before recognizing Armenia.

A few years ago I was a member of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Commission. Before the commission disbanded, the Turkish and Armenian
coordinators wrote a letter to the Turkish and Armenian foreign
ministers expressing their views on opening the border on the basis
of Kars. At that time, the Armenian members didn’t think Yerevan
would oppose ratifying Kars.

I don’t know what happened next, but I guess the main reason for our
reluctance to open the border and establishing diplomatic relations
comes from not wanting to offend Azerbaijan. Perhaps for the same
reason, priority was given to bringing together historians from both
sides to improve relations, because such a meeting seemed unlikely to
provoke Azerbaijan’s direct opposition. It was nearly impossible for
historians to agree on a historical interpretation of the events of
1915. Our president’s initiative for normal friendly relations between
Turkey and Armenia could finally prove that we’ve started to cast off
the restraints which have so far kept us from solving our own problems.

GUL IN YEREVAN: HALF OF THE ROAD
Cengiz Candar

Turkish Daily News
Sept 9 2008

This one-day trip to Armenia should produce some solid results so
as to be termed as a ‘historic’ one. That means establishment of
diplomatic ties and opening borders

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbantian invited us to lunch. At
his Foreign Ministry office in the capital Yerevan’s Republic
Square, we are having lunch and talking about the consequences of
Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s "historic visit" to the Armenian
capital. Arsen Avakian, the translator, is helping us, Hasan Cemal,
Ali Bayramoglu, Mustafa Karaalioglu and I, at the table. Armenian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balaian and Armenian representative
of the KEÄ°B in Istanbul are also around the table.In order to stress
the remarkable progress in bilateral relations and normalization,
Nalbatian repeated a few times that both presidents were willing for
this meeting; he and his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan will take
the flag from here on.

"We had a very historic day yesterday," he started to talk, and, "The
first step is the half-way. Presidents have left the half behind. Then,
they directed ministers to complete the rest," he said somewhere in
his speech. The next stop is to establish diplomatic ties between
Armenia and Turkey and to open the border gate. These two are like
twin brothers; without one the other does not exist.

Not a rematch:

We witnessed how both parties are serious in this. The Turkey-Armenia
football match for the World Cup qualifiers ended with the victory
of Turkey, 2-0. After the game, we went upstairs to attend a cocktail
party for Gul and the Turkish delegation. Gul and Armenian President
Serge Sarkisian suddenly appeared in front of us. Gul introduced us
to Sarkisian. The Armenian leader said the score is not important
for him. It was just a tool for a "close-up". His mood was like
spring atmosphere. Sarkisian said that he will pay a visit to
Turkey on Oct. 14, without forgetting to add "I am not coming for
a rematch."Nalbatian said during the lunch that Sarkasian’s visit
would be of historic importance as well. Both foreign ministers have
promptly set out for works to be done, steps to be taken and to walk
out the rest by Oct. 14.At the end of the cocktail, Gul left the
Hrazdan stadium for a return home. Sarkisian’s chief adviser took
us to our hotel in the city. In the car, he said that the presidents
reached an agreement in principal and the ministers will start working
for realization of the agreement and for providing logistics along
the way. After arriving at the hotel we met at the café and talked
about this historic day and the match. At 2:45 a.m., Babacan and his
entourage left their hotel right across the street.Nalbatian told
us about the rest of the evening. "After the game, I talked with
Babacan about 2.5 hours. Two weeks from now, we will meet in New York
again. From now on, there will not be any stop between us. To date,
we have had so many stops and we waited for so long at every stop but
will not be any stops from now on. In the days to come, we will talk
something solid. This is Armenia’s intention. And we have seen that the
Turkish side also has that intention. There is not any country today
having diplomatic relations yet not having any border gates open."

The spring atmosphere:

It is possible to see something solid in Turkey-Armenia rapprochement
with his following words, "We also talked about the Caucasus Stability
and Cooperation Platform that Turkey suggested. Armenia endorses it
100 percent and sees its significance."Everyone wants to be prudent
and do not want to make any solid commitment yet. But considering the
atmosphere in Yerevan, if we hear that diplomatic ties are established
between Armenia and Turkey and borders are opened by Oct. 14, this
will not be any surprise to us. Still, we approach prudently and say,
"We should first see the diplomatic ties established and borders
opened."We are able to take the pulse in Armenia because we arrived
in the capital before Gul and left after him. So I think the silent
protests during Gul’s travel from the airport to the city, the Tashnak
banners that were opened and shut immediately and a few swishes here
and there were negligible. None can cast shadow over this spring
atmosphere between Turkey and Armenia.

A Tashnak official trying to stress that they have nothing against
Gul’s visit said jokingly," If we hadn’t done that much, we should
have closed the Tasnak party."

As I said before, a "first" by Gul this one-day trip to Armenia should
produce some solid results so as to be termed as a "historic" one. And
that means establishment of diplomatic ties and opening border gates.

Nalbatian said, "We are half of the way." Progress the rest of the
way has begun with optimism.

–Boundary_(ID_PW4o30P7Glka/aVmhamE7A)- –

INTERNATIONAL CALLIGRAPHIC EXHIBITION ATTRACTED NEW PARTICIPANTS

RIA OREANDA
Sept 9 2008
RUSSIA

Moscow. OREANDA-NEWS On 09 September was announced, that Samvel
Vanoyan, Vera Evstafieva and Joachim Propfe take part in International
Calligraphic Exhibition.

Samvel Vanoyan is an Armenian artists and designer who thinks that
calligraphy can render the most delicate and unusual aesthetic ideas.

Vera Evstafieva is a font designer, fellow of the ATypI International
Typographic Association. Calligraphy is not merely a refined art and
tool it is as well a good training for font designers searching for
harmonious forms, she says.

Joachim Propfe is a calligrapher specializing in application of
calligraphy in interior design. He considers calligraphy to be a fusion
of two different art forms, literature and fine arts. He believes
that the composition of the image is the artistic goal of calligraphy.

PLATINI HAILS FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY AFTER TURKISH PRESIDENT VISITS ARMENIA

Agence France Presse
Sept 8 2008

PARIS (AFP) — UEFA President Michel Platini on Monday hailed the
unifying force of football after the 2010 World Cup qualifier between
Armenia and Turkey at the weekend was accompanied by an historic
visit of the Turkish president to Yerevan.

President Abdullah Gul’s landmark visit coincided with his country’s
2-0 victory and is expected to ease relations between the two foes.

Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia since
the former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991 because of
Armenian efforts to secure international recognition of Armenian
massacres under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

"Football is our world. Consequently, it is not our intention to
analyse the reasons for this state of affairs. However, it must be
emphasised today that football has, once again, brought people closer
together. A president of Turkey has visited Armenia for the first
time," said Platini.

"The Turkish national anthem was played and respected in Yerevan. There
was great emotion on both sides, and my representatives in Yerevan
tell me that the match was played in an exemplary spirit.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the two associations
and the players. They have provided an extraordinary example of the
power of sport’s spirit, and have sent out a considerable message of
hope in a region which has a great need of such messages."

UEFA.com

UEFA President thanks Armenia and Turkey
Monday 8 September 2008
Executive Office

On Saturday, Armenia and Turkey played a qualifying match for the 2010
FIFA World Cup in Yerevan. It was a qualifier like any other with
goals, early-season tensions, playing rhythms and passing combinations
not yet quite up to scratch – to sum up, a game played at the start of
September.

Historical context
What made this fixture somewhat exceptional, however, was the
historical context of the game. One has to imagine two countries with
a common border, who ignore each other and who have not had any
relations for 90 years – certainly a unique case in world terms.

Exemplary spirit
UEFA President Michel Platini underlined the importance of the
occasion, saying: "Football is our world. Consequently, it is not our
intention to analyse the reasons for this state of affairs. However,
it must be emphasised today that football has, once again, brought
people closer together. A president of Turkey has visited Armenia for
the first time. The Turkish national anthem was played and respected
in Yerevan. There was great emotion on both sides, and my
representatives in Yerevan tell me that the match was played in an
exemplary spirit.

Extraordinary example
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the two associations
and the players. They have provided an extraordinary example of the
power of sport’s spirit, and have sent out a considerable message of
hope in a region which has a great need of such messages."

©uefa.com 1998-2008. All rights reserved.

NA SPEAKER MET WITH THE AMBASSADOR OF NORWAY

armradio.am
08.09.2008 17:21

On September 8 Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran
Torosyan received the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Armenia
Oyvind Nordsleten.

"Although Armenia and Norway are geographically far from each other,
distance is not an obstacle for development of interstate relations
in the contemporary world," the Armenian Parliament Speaker noted,
expressing confidence that the Ambassador will also contribute to
the development of interparliamentary relations.

The Ambassador of Norway expressed willingness to contribute to
the development of interparliamentary relations, noting that Norway
traditionally wishes to deepen its friendly attitude towards Armenia
and Armenians. According to Oyvind Nordsleten, Norway and Armenia are
small countries, they can make their contribution to the development
of Europe.

Upon the Ambassador’s request, NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan referred
to Armenian-Turkish relations, noting that ever since independence
Armenia has been constantly declaring that it is ready to establish
relations with Turkey without any preconditions. Turkish President
Abdullah Gul’s visit to Armenia at the invitation of the President of
the Republic of Armenia was an unprecedented event. This should be
followed by the steps of the Turkish side, particularly the opening
of the Armenian-Turkish border. The NA Speaker turned to the Karabakh
issue, noting that the South Ossetian conflict also evidences that
the regional conflicts should be solved through peaceful negotiations,
excluding military actions.

‘Caucasus crisis prelude to war on Iran’

press tv
Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:41:10 GMT

Michel Chossudovsky
Prominent anti-war activist Michel Chossudovsky says the Caucasus
conflict is a prelude to a joint attack by the US and Israel on Iran.

According to Chossudovsky, the Canadian economist, the United States
had been actively involved in the planning and logistics of the
Georgian military operation in South Ossetia.

In mid-July, Georgian and US troops held a joint military exercise
dubbed ‘Immediate Response’ involving respectively 1,200 US and 800
Georgian troops.

Shortly after the military drill, Georgian military forces launched a
large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia on August 7.
Russia, in response, sent its troops into the region.

US warship in the Black Sea
The conflict in South Ossetia resulted in some 1500 civilian deaths,
and the displacement of 34,000 others, according to both Russian and
Western sources.

Chossudovsky, the forensic Global Research author, said Georgia would
never act militarily without the assent of Washington.

"The war on Southern Ossetia was not meant to be won," he said, adding
that, "It was intended to destabilize the region."

"Let us be under no illusions. This is not a civil war. The attacks are
an integral part of the broader Middle East Central Asian war,
including US-NATO-Israeli war preparations in relation to Iran,"
Chossudovsky cautioned.

According to the Debkafiles, in addition to the Israeli military
advisers’ aid to Georgia to carryout the August 7-8 ground assault,
Israel supplied Mikheil Saakashvili’s government with Hermes-450 and
Skylark unmanned aerial vehicles.

Israeli Hermes-450
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Duma Deputy Sergei Markov told Press TV
that, "this war in South Ossetia is somehow connected with the
aggression of Washington against Iran and the possible bombing of
Iran."

"Washington helped Georgia to take control of both South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, (because) it needs Georgian territory to use for bombing
against Iran," he added.

Tel Aviv and Washington accuse Iran of developing nuclear arms, and
have threatened to launch air strikes against the country.

However, the UN nuclear watchdog has announced that no evidence had
been found to support the US and Israel’s allegations against Iran.

Sabah, Turkey
Sept 6 2008

The longest 90 minutes

Although there are no diplomatic relations between Erivan and Ankara,
the leaders of both countries defined protocol which is suitable for
the significance of the visit.

Erivan, accepted fulfilling responsibilities of the protocol for the
president, Abdullah Gül.

According to protocol rules which was defined by diplomats of the two
countries, president Gül, will arrive in Erivan with flight ANA at 5
pm. Armenia Foreign Minister will welcome President Gül, in Edward
Nalbandyan Airport.Both in plane ANA and in the airport Turkish flag
will be hoisted.

ONE HOUR MEETING

The President will meet Armenia President, Serj Sarkisyan in the
Palaco of President.Sarkisyan will welcome Gül at the door of
palace.There will be two interpreters for each President. Because
Sarkisyan wants to host Gül at dinner, dinner time is scheduled as 7
pm.

SILK CARPET FROM GÜL

It’s expected that Gül will give a silk carpet as a gift to Sarkisyan.

NKR PRESIDENT PARTICIPATED IN CEREMONY OF HANDING CARS TO KARABAKH WAR’S VETERANS

DeFacto Agency
Sept 5 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 05.09.08. DE FACTO. On 3 September Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
President Bako Sahakyan partook in a solemn ceremony of handing cars
to the veterans of the first disability group.

According to the Central Information Department of the Office of
NKR President, after the ceremony the President held a meeting with
Russian entrepreneurs and philanthropists of Armenian origin, Arthur
Varzhapetian and Armen Shahazizian, founder and executive director of
the "Louding" company respectively. The Head of the State expressed his
gratitude to the philanthropists for assistance provided to Artsakh, in
particular, for cars given to the disable veterans. Issues related to
socioeconomic situation in the Republic and prospects for cooperation
were discussed at the meeting. NKR Premier Ara Harutyunyan partook
at the talks.